Teaching code

4S008053

Credits

12

Coordinator

Tommaso Tuppini

Language

Italian

Moodle Seminars 0

The teaching is organized as follows:

Learning outcomes

The course aims to analyze some fundamental themes of practice of communication, the concept of ethics of communication and the role of the latter in society. Particular attention will be given to the relationship between media communication and the information model that supports its functioning. The course tries to make students aware of the main theoretical issues of communication and, through the development of a critical methodology, about its ethical implications.

FILOSOFIA DELLA COMUNICAZIONE (I) I MODULO
The course aims at following a close examination of some themes and fundamental problems of communication practices. It develops a critical reflection on the paradigms that dominate the average understanding of communication, especially the information model. The course will make
students aware about main theoretical questions of communication. The character of the course is monographic and will focus on a theme relevant to communication theory.

ETICA E DEONTOLOGIA DELLA COMUNICAZIONE (P) II MODULO
The course intends to critically analyse the concept of the ethics of communication and its role in society, focusing on the relationship between (mass)media communication and human “person”, who is both user, receiver, and “manager” (but, more and more frequently, a “bare gear”) of the communication process and the technologies employed. The purpose of the course is not only to provide students with conceptual grounds and critical methodology which would make them even more aware of the ethical implications of communication (with regard to its key players and means involved in), but also to allow the acquisition of a language and skills so as to be able to deal with ethical challenges arising from an interconnected and multicultural world.

Program

TRUTH AND COMPLOTISM

What is truth? Traditionally, truth is the property of a language that corresponds adequately to the reality that surrounds us. However, reality is often hostile to our desires, so it is normal to disguise it, transform it, deny it, to the point of replacing it with an alternative representation that is more docile and satisfying, closer to our hopes and our projects. "This art of dissimulation reaches its peak in man” wrote the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. “Deception, flattering, lying, deluding, talking behind the back, putting up a false front, living in borrowed splendor, wearing a mask, hiding behind convention, playing a role for others and for oneself-in short, a continuous fluttering around the solitary flame of vanity-is so much the rule and the law among men that there is almost nothing which is less comprehensible than how an honest and pure drive for truth could have arisen among them.” One of the most curious forms in which the will to simulate is expressed today is “complotism”, that is the tendency to imagine a hidden reality behind the events, a kind of secret government that accounts for all the failures, the ugliness, the unpleasant situations we are dealing with. What is the significance of this attitude? Why do so many of us have an uncontrollable tendency to discover falsehoods and deceptions wherever we look? What is the "truth" of the plots and to what deep human desire do they respond?

"RUMORS"

We will study the idea of communication which dominates the functioning of the public sphere as this sphere emerges from the experience of Enlightment. We will then show how the history of the last century questioned this idea and this functioning. We will study the figure of the so-called "rumors", the increasingly important role of the fake news within the political arena, and the disturbing yet unavoidable figure of the "vox populi".

Bibliography

Examination Methods

Written exam. The assessment of the learning outcomes includes a written test consisting of a questionnaire with open answers. The questions will be three and will concern the texts indicated in the bibliography. To answer the questions candidates will have 1h and 30m. Evaluation criteria: property of language, comprehension of texts and ability to autonomously process the knowledge acquired from texts.